Israel Rejects the Good
like a vulture over the house of Yahweh,
because they have broken my covenant[a]
and rebelled against my law.
2 They cry out to me,
“My God! We, Israel, know you!”
3 Israel has spurned the good;
the enemy will pursue him.
4 They appointed kings, but not through me;
they made officials, but without my knowledge.
With their silver and gold
they made idols for themselves
for their[b] own destruction.[c]
5 Your calf is rejected,[d] O Samaria;
my anger burns against them.
How long[e] will they be incapable of innocence?
6 Because it is from Israel,
an artisan made it,
it is not a god;
for the calf of Samaria
will be broken to pieces.
7 Because they sow the wind,
they will reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain does not have heads;[f]
it will not yield flour.
And if it would yield,
strangers would devour it.
8 Israel is swallowed up;
now they are among the nations,
like an object that no one desires.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria,
a wild donkey alone to itself;
Ephraim has sold itself for lovers.
10 Even though they have sold themselves to the nations,
now I will gather them.
They will soon writhe
from the burden of kings[g] and princes.
11 When Ephraim multiplied altars
to expiate sins,
they became to him altars to sin on.
12 I write for him myriads of my instruction;[h]
they are regarded as a strange thing.
13 They offer sacrifices of my choice[i]
and they eat flesh;
Yahweh does not accept them.
Now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins;
they will return to Egypt.
14 Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces,
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
but I will send fire on his cities
and it will devour her strongholds.
Footnotes
- Hosea 8:1 Literally “transgressed my covenant”
- Hosea 8:4 Hebrew “his”
- Hosea 8:4 Literally “cut off”
- Hosea 8:5 Hebrew “he rejects” or “has rejected you”
- Hosea 8:5 Hebrew “Until when”
- Hosea 8:7 Hebrew “head”
- Hosea 8:10 Hebrew “king”
- Hosea 8:12 Or “my law”
- Hosea 8:13 Hebrew uncertain; or “loved ones”